One Man Dead & Three Police Injured at “Urban Beach Weekend” – Hip Hop Culture To Blame? [VIDEO] | Hip Hop U-C-IT

One Man Dead & Three Police Injured at “Urban Beach Weekend” – Hip Hop Culture To Blame? [VIDEO]

Stray News | hiphopucit | May 31, 2011 at 9:01 am

A shooting spree left one person dead and seven more injured after Memorial Day festivities in Miami Beach turned deadly.

Three police officers were taken to hospital after being injured in two separate shootings early this morning.

Revellers who had flocked to the city for Urban Beach Week ran screaming for their lives as gunshots rang out in the packed streets.

One shooting, at around 4am on Collins Avenue and 15th Street, was caught on camera by a panicked onlooker and posted on YouTube,

The footage, with the caption ‘South Beach is becoming a ghetto every Memorial Day weekend’, shows gunfire coming from a car racing down the street.

According to police, the black Mercedes had hit several vehicles including one of their patrol cars.

Officers surrounded the vehicle before exchanging shots with the men inside. The driver was killed and two police officers were injured in the ensuing fire fight.

Another shooting erupted only a few blocks away, on Washington Avenue and 14th Street, at around 5.15am.

Local television cameras caught partygoers screaming and ducking for cover as police with machine guns ran towards the gunmen.

Witnesses told WSVN some bystanders were sprayed with Mace as police officers tried to track down suspects.

The two Miami Beach officers injured in the first shooting were taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center for treatment, along with an officer from Hiealeah.

Miami Beach Police Sergeant Alejandro Bello said their injuries were not life-threatening.

Five other people were taken to Ryder Trauma Center after being injured in the shootings. One later died.

Detective Jenny Velazquez told the Miami Herald officers are still trying to work out exactly what happened. She said:

‘Everything is very cloudy right now.’

A bystander at the first shooting said police accidentally shot one of her friends during the fire fight.

She told WSVN:

‘We were just walking, going to our hotel. We saw a drive-by go by; we ducked down.

The police came out with their guns and they started shooting. It was a drive-by going on and the Miami police shot her. It was by accident but they still shot her.’

The shootings happened as thousands of partygoers flocked to Miami’s South Beach for Urban Beach Week, a hip-hop event now in its tenth year.

None of the victims have yet been named.